Exotic Territory: a Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Paraguayan Poetry

By Trafford Publishing

Exotic Territory: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Paraguayan Poetry seeks to address a dearth of information in the English-speaking world about Paraguayan poetry of the past forty years. The twelve outstanding poets included hereJos Luis Appleyard, Moncho Azuaga, Gladys Carmagnola, Susy Delgado, Oscar Ferreiro, Rene Ferrer, Joaqun Morales, Amanda Pedrozo, Jacobo Rauskin, Elvio Romero, Ricardo de La Vega, Carlos Villagra Marsalrepresent a wide diversity of themes, styles, and perspectives in this little-known nation. Most of them have published extensively, have been recognized through literary awards and inclusion in national and international anthologies, and continue writing today. To contextualize the poets and their poetry for readers unfamiliar with Paraguay, the Introduction provides a brief background of its geography, history, government, economy, society, and artistic milieu. Following that is a wide selection of representative poems published previously in Spanish, with translations in English on facing pages. The book concludes with a brief biographical sketch of each poet, followed by an unprecedented and extensive bibliography of primary and secondary sources intended to encourage those readers who might want to pursue further reading or research on any poet of interest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Jun 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781426966996

Book preview

Exotic Territory:

A Bilingual Anthology of

Contemporary Paraguayan

Poetry

Edited by Ronald Haladyna

Introduction, Translations, Bibliographies, and

Notes by the Editor

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© Copyright 2011 Ronald Haladyna.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

ISBN: 978-1-4269-6696-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4269-6697-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4269-6699-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2011907037

Trafford rev. 05/23/2011

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To Sergio,

whose love for Paraguay equals mine

Contents

Preface

INTRODUCTION: CONTEXTUALIZING PARAGUAYAN POETRY

JOSÉ LUIS APPLEYARD

MONCHO AZUAGA

GLADYS CARMAGNOLA

SUSY DELGADO

OSCAR FERREIRO

RENÉE FERRER

JOAQUÍN MORALES

AMANDA PEDROZO

JACOBO RAUSKIN

ELVIO ROMERO

RICARDO DE LA VEGA

CARLOS VILLAGRA MARSAL

THE POETS AND THEIR BIBLIOGRAPHIES

ABOUT THE EDITOR

Preface

The intention of this anthology is to introduce to the English-reading world contemporary poetry of Paraguay, a remote, exotic, and little-known land in the middle of South America. In the past forty years, Latin America has achieved universal recognition for its narrative literature, but that has not been the case for its poetry. Although Nobel Prize winners Pablo Neruda (1971) and Octavio Paz (1990) aroused some recognition of Latin American poetry, only a few other current poets—perhaps Nicanor Parra, Juan Gelman, Ernesto Cardenal, Sub Commander Marcos—are recognized in North American literary and university circles, or by literary researchers. The current MLA International Bibliography references only a handful of articles on current Latin American poets.

It may seem strange that most South American poets are unfamiliar with celebrated poets of their neighboring countries. What is not so strange is that the general reading public in North America is not only unfamiliar with South America’s poetry, but also with its history, geography, economy, politics, and culture. This bilingual anthology is an attempt to give long-overdue recognition to Paraguay’s leading contemporary poets.

The selection of poets and poetry representing an entire nation is always problematic at best, and at worst susceptible to suspicions of ignorance or partiality, based on dubious inclusions or unpardonable omissions. Anthologists, just like poets, are subjective creatures, relying on personal reading experience, acquired tastes, a thirst for novelty, and even raw instinct. Beyond these considerations, the conscientious anthologist is obliged to take into consideration some broadly based and reasonable literary criteria for selection, including any of the following: a poetic sensibility, manifested through thought-provoking themes and ideas; a special perspective of reality, be it personal, local, national or universal; a unique style; and a convincing command of language. In addition, I look for mature, dedicated poets with a sustained, recognized publication history of books of poetry, (in this case I have chosen the last two decades); and some evidence of peer recognition mostly through published reviews and interviews, but also prologues and essays. This last criterion often falls by the wayside in countries such as Paraguay, where poetry is only occasionally and superficially reviewed in local media and rarely is the focus of scholarly analysis. I have also been swayed by poets who have received literary awards both at home and abroad and whose poems have been included in national and international Spanish-language anthologies and literary reviews.

For the purposes of selection for this anthology, my intention has been to introduce outstanding and representative contemporary Paraguayan poets from the last several decades and to translate representative poems for readers unfamiliar with Spanish. I have attempted here to gather an array of poets representing different generations—some in fact have been published since the 1940s—who have been actively writing and publishing books of significant quality and quantity to represent the genre convincingly. Also, I have wished to present the great diversity extant in stylistic approaches, perspectives, imagination, ideas, and language in Paraguay’s recent poetry.

This anthology has been long in the making; it started with a Fulbright teaching/research award I received in 1997 with which I taught a course on postmodern poetry at the Universidad Católica in Asunción. The research part of the Fulbright experience consisted of extensive reading of scores of contemporary Paraguayan poets (in Spanish, not in Guaraní), condensing a list of what I considered to be the most significant, representative and interesting poets, and then selecting a variety of poems of each one. I also carried out a series of interviews to capture the poets’ sense of their own poetics, as well as to explore their perspectives on possible societal and literary influences on their works to aid me in my translations.

For virtually all of the bibliographies of primary and secondary sources of these poets, I started from scratch. None of the poets had a complete bibliography of their own published works, let alone of published reviews, interviews, and criticism on their works. I have included bio-bibliographies as an initial guide for future research. Given the lack of resources in Paraguay, it was difficult to get an exhaustive listing of secondary sources and complete bibliographical data, but this data will provide a base for future researchers to build upon. Nobody has ever proposed a canon of contemporary Paraguayan poets, but I hope this project will provide a meaningful step toward opening such a discussion.

TRANSLATION NOTES

The cultural flavor, the idiomatic nuances, the flexibility of syntax, the quirks of grammar, the use of poetic license, and the richness of sound can never be fully captured in any translated rendition. My translation of these selected poems attempts only to render equivalencies in English in roughly the same idiomatic register that I perceive in Spanish. I have made no attempt in these poems to replicate Spanish meter and rhyme in English; to do so would do no credit to the poets nor offer any advantage to readers. In some cases, I add punctuation in English to facilitate the flow of meaning; in others, I respect the paucity of punctuation because it is clearly the poets’ intent to do so. Footnotes are used sparingly, only for vocabulary and proper nouns that, even when faithfully translated, need further clarification. The Introduction to the work will hopefully provide a sufficient background for readers unfamiliar with Paraguay and to help situate the context of at least a significant number of the selected poetry.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This anthology could not have been brought to fruition without the generous support of a sabbatical leave and a faculty research grant from Ferris State University. I also wish to acknowledge the Council of International Exchange of Scholars for the senior Fulbright Award that permitted me to carry out the initial research for this project. Many thanks also to Gladys Carmagnola, Susy Delgado, and Ricardo de la Vega for their help in providing materials and historical background; to Gladys Gavilán of the library of the Casa de la Cultura; to Margarita Kallsen of the library of the Universidad Católica for providing me access to many otherwise inaccessible books; and to Professor Phillip Brewington Middleton for his close reading of the manuscript and his encouragement. Finally, my deepest thanks to poet Jacobo Rauskin, whose encyclopedic knowledge of world literature, of poetics, and of the Spanish and Guaraní languages and cultures were of immeasurable assistance. He graciously gave many hours of his time in reviewing translations, answering questions and offering encouragement in this project.

*     *     *     *     *     *     *

INTRODUCTION: CONTEXTUALIZING PARAGUAYAN POETRY

Familiarity with a poet’s milieu—especially if it is a distant one—does not necessarily provide a reader with a special insight into the poet’s poetics, intentions, or mystique. However, it does help to identify a context—in this case, Paraguayan—that is likely to be unknown to the majority of readers of this anthology. At the very least, this background will make it clear that these poets, in spite of the vast diversity of themes, styles, language, images, and perspectives, are products of very similar circumstances. In fact, within the relatively small cultural environment of Paraguay, most of the poets know (of) each other, and in many cases know each other’s works. This introduction is for those readers who might not be familiar with this remote country.

GEOGRAPHY

Paraguay is about the size of California (157,048 square miles) and is landlocked by Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina, close to the geographical center of South America. The Paraguay River, the principal waterway, cuts through the middle of the country from north to south and divides Paraguay into two distinct geographical regions. To the west is the Gran Chaco, an alluvial plain which is part of a vast area in central South America, shared by Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, and Argentina. It is an inhospitable region, consisting of marshy plains, swamps, dry forests, and thorny scrubland; it is under-populated and underdeveloped, with few paved roads and cities. To the east of the Paraguay River is Paraguay proper, a more fertile region, consisting of low, wooded hills, rolling, grassy plains and a 1,000-2,000 ft. high plateau that extends north into Brazil. The plateau feeds numerous streams that flow westward through fertile hills and lowlands, eventually spilling into the Paraguay River. This area contains most of the country’s population of over 6,000,000 and its economic livelihood. Asunción (548,000) is the capital and largest city, followed by Ciudad del Este (223,350), San Lorenzo (203,000), Luque (170,000), and Capiatá (154,000). Paraguay’s climate is subtropical, with rainfall heavy in the Chaco summer, but evenly distributed in the rest of the country throughout the year.

ECONOMY

Outside of its fertile soil, its forests, and its wealth of rivers, Paraguay has few exploitable resources; even the tourism industry hasn’t flourished. It has been one of South America’s poorest countries, basing its economy largely on small-scale agriculture. Cassava, seed cotton, sugarcane, corn, wheat, sweet potatoes, yerba mate (a South American tea), bananas, and oranges are the leading crops. Livestock breeding (cattle, pigs, sheep, and horses) is also an important part of Paraguay’s rural economy. Nearly half of Paraguay’s labor force is employed in the agricultural sector, many of them farm on a subsistence basis. Although forest products have been a leading industry in Paraguay, injudicious management and illegal cutting have greatly depleted forests, causing ecological concern. Because of the scarcity of minerals, mining in Paraguay has never been significant. Manufacturing, limited to small companies concentrated in the Asunción area, produces packed meat, sugar, foodstuffs, and textiles.

Developmental problems in the economy have traditionally been attributed to official ineptitude and corruption, a shortage of skilled labor, inadequate transportation, all of which have traditionally accounted for a lack of international investment. An ambitious government program in the 1950s addressed these concerns by investing in improved roads, airports, river ports, and hydroelectric power. Although the country is landlocked, the Paraguay River accommodates ocean-going vessels, giving access to international trade. During the 1970s, the improvements in infrastructure stimulated a strong economy, but it was short lived, due to political instability, falling prices in commodities, foreign debt, and other problems during the 1980s and 1990s. The Itaipú hydroelectric dam—one of the world’s largest—became operational in 1991, and has provided nearly all of Paraguay’s electricity needs, enabling the export of power to neighboring countries. The joint Paraguayan-Argentine Yacyretá hydroelectric dam was completed in 1994, providing additional income for Paraguay.

In 2008, Paraguay’s GDP was an estimated US$ 16 billion, and its GDP per capita (PPP) was an estimated $4,200, with services comprising 58.2 per cent of the total of the economy, industry 18.4 per cent, and agriculture and forestry combining for 23.4 per cent (2008 est.). As in the case of so many other developing countries, there is also an underground economy consisting of street vendors and small businesses dedicated to the resale of imported goods. Ciudad del Este has been known as the unofficial contraband capital of South America. Paraguay’s total exports came to US$ 5.463 billion (2007 est.), and imports were US $9.172 billion (2008 est.). Paraguay is a founding member of MERCOSUR, a free trade association created in 1995 to foment trade and lower tariffs among fellow members Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil.

HISTORY

The modern history of Paraguay begins around 1525, when Spanish and Portuguese expeditions seeking gold, explored the rivers in the area where they encountered peaceful tribes